


O Captain! My Captain!

by mybrainproblems



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Debate Team Captain Eren, Fluff, M/M, Soccer Captain Jean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-08
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-02-16 14:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,377
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2272629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mybrainproblems/pseuds/mybrainproblems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grisha decides that Eren needs an attitude adjustment and sends him off to his uncle's farm for the summer. He left as a math and debate team nerd with mild asthma and dorky glasses and braces and the fashion sense of a blind man.</p>
<p>Now he's back and the braces are off and he has new glasses and he's tanned and toned and there goes Jean's heterosexuality.</p>
<p>He still has the fashion sense of a blind man though. (Thank god)</p>
            </blockquote>





	O Captain! My Captain!

**Author's Note:**

> "grew up as best friends but you got hot over the summer can i touch ur biceps AU"  
> They're both a bit ooc but idgaf I needed to write this.
> 
> [Now with art by viella-art over on Tumblr!!](http://viella-art.tumblr.com/post/97600355348/they-were-halfway-through-practice-and-jean-was)

When they were four their mothers met.

When they were five they shared a babysitter.

When they were six they went to separate schools.

When they were nine they were back in the same school.

When they were ten they started friendly and ended as sort-of-friends.

When they were thirteen Jean asked Mikasa on a date; Jean and Eren ended up sitting next to each other outside the principal’s office with bruised faces and scraped knees while they waited for their parents to fetch them.

                They ended up in another fight.  
                A week later all was forgiven.

When they were fourteen they started high school.

                Jean signed up for soccer and Eren signed up for debate.  
                Eren took advanced math, Jean took advanced history.  
                Jean started going to the gym, Eren got glasses and a diagnosis of mild asthma.

When they were fifteen Eren got braces and started helping Jean with his math homework.

When they were sixteen the soccer team won the regional championships; Jean got laid and Eren went home to study for a math exam.

When they were seventeen they entered their final year of high school.

 

Jean hadn’t seen Eren since the second day of summer vacation when he had gone over to say good bye and help Eren pack. His father had decided that Eren had started one fight too many (and got his ass handed to him every time) and needed an attitude adjustment. Apparently he had an uncle who lived on a farm out in the country who usually hired a few local kids part time over the summer to work but now Eren had been _volunteered_ to help out for the summer.

Eren had spent most of the time that Jean was there glaring at his halfway packed suitcase and talking about how they were going to be seniors in the fall and how annoyed he was that he would be missing all of the summer house parties.

“I’m going to miss Reiner’s back to school party!  This is so stupid!”

“You’ve never gone before, so I don’t see why you’re so bummed out.”

“That’s not the _point_ , I wanted to go this year. Summer before our last year of high school and all that jazz.”

“It’s not really all that great.”

“Everybody talks about it for the entire first two weeks of school – _you_ talk about it too – and this year I won’t even be able to ask you what happened before school starts.”

“Shit, how long _are_ you there for?”

“I get back two days before school starts but we probably won’t be able to hang out.”

“What? Why not? We always spend the last afternoon of break at the pond. It’s a tradition Eren!”

“Sorry! I’m getting my braces off and my Aunt is having a baby at the beginning of August and debate starts up almost immediately so that’s really the only chance that I have to see them. We can go to the pond the weekend after school starts and blow off homework. Deal?”

“…I’m going to have soccer practice and I’m the captain this year so I can’t just ditch.”

“Oh.” Eren looked down at his feet with a gloomy expression, his overlarge glasses slipping down his nose slowly.

“Well at least you’re getting your braces off before senior photos. Finally get to show off those pearly whites, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m looking forward to having them off so I can eat apples without cutting them up this fall. I’m so jealous of Armin. He got his off right before Christmas.”

“Well I’d think you’d be most jealous of _me_ seeing as I never had to get braces.”

“Ugh. Screw you, Jean. Oh, speaking of Armin though… he and Mikasa are going to be here in a little bit so…”

“Yeah, I’ll get going.”

Sometimes it would frustrate Jean that Eren and him kept their own friendship separate from their other friends. If anybody asked you who Jean’s close friends were they would immediately say Marco, Connie and Sasha; for Eren it was Armin and Mikasa. Eren had known Armin for only a year longer than Jean but they had gone to the same school the entire time and if Jean was perfectly honest, he and Eren had only been friends of circumstance until they were in middle school. For some reason them getting into a fight because Jean had asked Mikasa out had done wonders for their friendship; he couldn’t figure it out but he wasn’t about to question it. What other friend could he go to for help with his calculus homework? What other friend would secretly play Magic the Gathering with him or allow him to cry on their shoulder when his parents divorced? What other friend of Eren’s would watch such an “unintellectual” sport as hockey with him? But the real kicker for Jean was that not even Armin and Mikasa knew that Eren liked men just as much as women. Jean had been floored by that confession; not so much because of it as because Eren hadn’t told Armin and Mikasa first.

He was going to miss his odd friendship with Eren.

The rest of June and then July and then August passed slowly.

Most nights Jean walked around town and enjoyed the cooler outdoor air before returning home to sleep. Unless there was a party; then he would be at someone’s house, hot and sweaty and drunk until well past two in the morning holding court as he talked about the upcoming soccer season and how he would lead them to another regional championship.

Two days before school started he received a text from Eren.

**[Eren:]** Hey guys! I’m back and getting my braces off this afternoon. We should go and get something crunchy or sticky after I’m done! (^_^)

Jean grinned at the text message. He knew that it was a mass text though and intended primarily for Armin and Mikasa and the rest of the debate team. Even if he had wanted to go (no way was he going to be in the same room as Mikasa) he wouldn’t have been able to because of soccer training that afternoon. If he was lucky, his schedule and Eren’s might match up tomorrow but he sincerely doubted it. He would miss their tradition of walking to the pond and hanging out there all afternoon the day before school, but he figured he should get used to changes now that they were going to be applying to colleges in a few short months.

 

He got to school a bit early to see if he could at least get in a quick hello before the day started; it felt weird to have not seen Eren since mid-June. Especially when he had actually been back in town for two days. As he rounded the corner to where Eren’s locker was he got confused. There was someone else at Eren’s locker.

Someone a bit taller. Someone with shaggy brown hair and sun-bronzed skin. Someone with some seriously nice muscle definition but without overdoing it.

Someone who was turning around and had stylish glasses frames and straight white teeth and a gorgeous smile and –

_Holy shit that’s Eren._

_And there goes my heterosexuality._

When they hugged each other Jean swore that Eren had grown a solid three inches since the beginning of the summer so that they were now the same height. He felt tingly all over when they pulled apart and he couldn’t help but stare at Eren’s face.

“Is there something on my face?” Eren’s voice was slightly nervous.

“I’m so used to you with braces. You look… different.” _You’re fucking hot. What the hell, Jaeger? You’re not allowed to disappear for a summer and then come back and force me to question my sexuality._

“Oh yeah, it’s kinda weird to have them off. The first thing I did was have some popcorn.” Jean hadn’t been entirely convinced that this was Eren until he ducked his head and laughed just like he always did. What _was_ different was that now his glasses fit properly and didn’t slide precariously far down his nose, now he only had to push his hair back out of his face when he looked up again and – _This isn’t fair. Since when did Eren fucking Jaeger become the god of effortless sex appeal? That was supposed to me my job in this friendship. What’s it now? Besotted close friend?_

“Do you have debate team after school today?” Eren looked slightly startled by Jean’s sudden interjection while he had continued to list other foods he wanted to eat now that his braces were off.

“What? Yeah, I’ll probably be done a little after four. Why?”

“I have soccer but it’s not actually practice, just a pep talk and some paperwork stuff. I’m done by three thirty so I thought maybe we could hang out and you can tell me what the hell you did this summer.” _What demon did you make a deal with to look like this?_

“You’re okay with waiting around for me?”

“Or we could meet somewhere.” _Because Mikasa is going to kill me if she sees me looking at you like a piece of hot man meat._ “The pond?”

“Yeah. That sounds great!”

They both separated as Eren got a reminder text from Armin that he was supposed to meet him and Mikasa in the library fifteen minutes ago. After Eren had rounded the corner Jean stood in the empty hall and groaned and brought his hands up to his face and pushed the heels of his palms into his eyes. _I’m so fucked. I’m so fucking fucked._

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Jean wasn’t surprised that he had no classes with Eren when their preferred subjects were so different; math versus history and music versus creative writing. Of course, Jean would always claim that he took creative writing because it was an easy A and it was only Eren who knew that Jean took it very seriously. That had always been the nature of their friendship; they shared sides of themselves that they didn’t share with other people and as of his first creative writing class Jean realized that he probably wasn’t going to be nearly as comfortable sharing his writing with Eren anymore. At least not if he was going to continue writing poems about green eyes and perfect smiles.

The soccer meeting ended early which left Jean with forty minutes until Eren was likely to be free. He ended up going upstairs with every intention of doing his homework but was immediately sidetracked when he sat down at his desk. He looked up at the bulletin board and smiled at all of the photos from the summer and hoped he could hold onto that happy and carefree feeling for just a little bit longer. He couldn’t help but think back to all of the fun he had that summer. And how much he had missed Eren.

 

A bit later he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

**[Eren:]** I got elected captain of the debate team!!!! I know we were going to hang out but Mikasa and Armin want to go out to celebrate…

**[Jean:]** Congrats! I hadn’t even started walking over yet so no big deal. You owe me future hangouts though. I really missed you all summer.

His finger hovered over ‘send’ and he stared at the message for a moment before deleting the last sentence and finally pressing ‘send’ to let it fly across the digital ether. Jean put his phone back in his pocket and stayed on the bridge a bit longer to watch a heron fly over the pond before turning and walking home.

 

Jean couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt even the next day at school. Especially when he tried to go over to congratulate Eren and received the stink eye from Mikasa. Eren had forgiven him for asking out Mikasa, but Mikasa wouldn’t forgive him for beating Eren up years ago. He ended up settling for a quick smile and a “congrats!” before he hurried off and made it look like he was just on his way to somewhere else. Hell hath no fury like an overprotective almost-sister.  He ended up lucking out later in the day when Eren came by his locker alone. He leaned against the neighboring locker just like he usually did, but now instead of looking dorky and shy he looked nonchalant and cool and had he really never noticed how green his eyes were behind his old dorky glasses? _Get a hold of yourself Kirchstein! Stop being such a shallow bastard._

“I’m sorry about yesterday, it’s just that it was a really –”

“Eren, I’m glad for you. You deserve it.”

“Thanks.” _Fucking hell that smile._ “I don’t have debate tomorrow night, are you free then?”

“I have soccer practice until after six.”

“Oh.”

“That’s why I wanted to hang out yesterday. I’m barely free and I can’t ditch practice to hang out now that I’m captain.”

“Oh.” It was softer this time and Eren bowed his head to look at the floor, his hair falling in front of his face. He had his arms lightly crossed before but now they tightened around himself. His voice was soft when he spoke again. “Sorry, I forgot that we can’t hang out as much anymore with you being captain.”

“Are you free on Friday right after school? I don’t have practice…”

“I’m supposed to go to the mall with Armin and Mikasa. I need new pants, I destroyed all of mine over the summer.” _That sounds fine by me. Who needs pants? Certainly not you._

“Okay well I have practice on Saturday and Sunday mornings but I’m free Saturday afternoon.”

“I’m supposed to visit my grandparents Saturday.” Eren angrily slammed his hand into the lockers causing Jean to jump.

“Jesus. You scared the crap out of me, Eren.”

“Sorry it’s just that I really want to hang out with you and our schedules don’t line up _at all_ this semester.”

“I could maybe do Saturday night. I might be kinda dead but we can at least get some pizza and watch a movie. That work?”

“Yeah! That totally works for me!” Eren pushed his hair back and grinned making Jean go a little weak at the knees. _I’m in over my head. Help._

 

Jean blew off vague plans to hang out with the rest of the team on Friday night by claiming that he wanted to get a head start on the readings for his history course before he got too swamped with work for his other classes. But truth be told, he needed some space to process his relationship with Eren. He felt like a shallow prick for not noticing him until he was showed up at school looking like he walked off the set for a high end fashion photo shoot. He was still a massive dork and dressed like a blind man and _definitely_ didn’t notice the stares following him in the hallway and Jean was happy about that. Eren wouldn’t be Eren unless he was completely oblivious to anything beyond his dreams and his friends. Mikasa and Armin had definitely noticed though. Mikasa had taken to glaring at anyone who looked at Eren like the gorgeous man that he was and Armin continuously pulled Eren along, not allowing him to linger in conversations with people uninterested in Eren beyond the physical. Even Jean found himself getting defensive about Eren. He had punched _Reiner_ of all people in Thursday’s practice for saying that Eren was a hot piece of ass and that he was going to tap that – whether he was gay or straight – before Thanksgiving break. Thankfully nobody said much of anything about it except for Reiner muttering that between Mikasa and Jean, Eren might as well be wearing a chastity belt – and that suited Jean just fine.

So there he was, looking through the box of photos he kept under his bed. These were all of the ones that didn’t qualify as favorites per se; those ended up on the bulletin board above his desk. He had given up on doing homework when looked up at his bulletin board and realized that almost half of the photos on it were of him and Eren. And it was that realization that had spurred him to get out his photo box and see if that same ratio existed across _all_ of his photos. He couldn’t help but smile as he went through the photos.

                 Him and Marco at soccer camp in middle school.

                 Him and an out-of-breath Eren after having a mud fight; Jean had yelled at him about using his inhaler later.

                 Him and the rest of the soccer team after they won Regionals last year.

                 Him and Marco and Connie at Sasha’s New Year’s party.

                 Him and Eren at the beach.

                 Him and Eren taking a double selfie… somewhere.

                 Eren sitting on his bed, laughing and clearly trying to take the camera away.

                 Him and Marco cheering on Marco’s sister’s volleyball team.

                 Eren sitting at a table, biting his lip as he did homework with the sun turning his hair into a halo.

_Oh. Oh fuck._

**[Jean:]** Have you ever crushed on someone for years without realizing it?

**[Marco:]** Did you finally realize you’ve had a crush on Eren since middle school and that asking Mikasa out was just misplaced attraction and all of your fights were the result of sexual frustration and that you punched Reiner this week because you’re jealous? Because if so, congrats.

**[Jean:]** Oh god. Who else knows?

**[Marco:]** Probably just me. I don’t think anyone else is close enough to you to notice.

**[Jean:]** Good.

**[Marco:]** You should tell him. What do you have to lose?

**[Jean:]** Someone whose friendship I value greatly.

**[Marco:]** You have to tell him at some point.

**[Jean:]** I’m thinking the day before we leave for college.

**[Marco:]** Jean…

Jean didn’t respond to Marco’s final message, opting to continue going through the box of photos instead. Looking through them he realized that he almost _preferred_ Eren with his dorky glasses and braces and looking so genuinely cute and not like a male model. Not to say that he didn’t appreciate Eren’s new look, it was just that he didn’t look like his childhood friend. He figured that Eren looking so different was what finally caused his conscious attraction to catch up to his subconscious one.

Either way, Saturday was going to be torture.

 

Saturday was indeed torture. Jean tried to mask his awkwardness (and the fact that he kept staring at Eren) by saying that he was really exhausted from practice. Eren kept giving him concerned looks and asking if he was okay and Jean kept telling him that it was fine –yes _really_ – and that he just needed to get some sleep. Now that he was actually _aware_ of his crush he knew that no, he wasn’t laughing at Eren’s weirdly lopsided smile, he was laughing because that weirdly lopsided smile was the most adorable thing in the world. He didn’t want to drag Eren off so that he could punch him, he wanted to drag him off so he could pull him onto the couch and make out with him.

He did find out what Eren had done over the summer at least. Apparently working on his uncle Erwin’s farm had been relatively physical work (Eren’s now-toned physique) and most of that work was outdoors (that gorgeous tan) and apparently his uncle’s partner had been personally offended by his “shitty eyeglasses” and dragged him off to get new ones. And finally, Eren had found that he preferred pulling his hair back with a bandana to getting a haircut and had decided that he was going to continue growing it out since it didn’t have far to go before he could pull it back into a half ponytail.

It was the most confusing and sexually frustrating night of Jean’s young life.

 

Jean had let Eren stay a little bit longer than he should have. Long enough that he felt sluggish even after their warm-up jog at Sunday morning’s practice. They were barely an hour into practice and both Marco _and_ Connie had asked if he was feeling okay. Thankfully it wasn’t a lie when he said he hadn’t slept well; not only had Eren left a bit late, he also had a _wet dream_ about Eren. There was no way his mind was going to let him forget (what he imagined) Eren would look like sinking down onto Jean’s cock and riding him hard and fast. It was like retinal burn and there was no getting it out of his head now.

They were halfway through practice and Jean was helping the coach call out drills when he noticed a lone figure walking up into the bleachers. Nobody ever came to watch their practices, not even overly-enthusiastic parents. He stared in confusion, especially when he realized that it was someone wearing denim cut-offs that fell somewhere awkwardly between “girl shorts” and “boy shorts” length and a fucking over-sized mint green sweater with a big pink heart on it. And there was no way he couldn’t recognize that sweater. He had seen that eyesore on a regular basis for the past two years.

Eren fucking Jaeger had come to watch them practice.

Jean’s stomach gave a weak flop and he suddenly felt mildly sick. He had identified their mystery observer and now he needed to make sure that practice went smoothly for his team. Not to mention that he wanted practice to go smoothly so that he would look good to Eren. He might have been a bit sweatier than usual from having putting in some extra effort to look good. Jean was about to head for the showers with the rest of the team when Eren came bounding over to say hello. Jean didn’t miss the pointed look that Marco gave him. The “don’t you dare run” didn’t need to be said.

_I am gross and sweaty and he looks like some kind of bronzed god in a 80s reject sweater._

“Hey.”

“Hey.” There was a long pause and since it seemed like Eren wasn’t about to say anything he decided to attempt to continue the conversation. “So… what’s with the sudden interest in soccer?”

“Oh! Well you’re a captain and now I’m a captain but I’m kinda shit at leadership so I figured I’d watch and see what that looked like.”

“There’s a big difference between captaining a debate team and captaining a soccer team.”

“Yeah, I know. But still.”

“The fact that you get to watch a bunch of sweaty muscular guys isn’t part of the appeal at all?”

“Oh god no that’s not it!” Eren’s face was flushing bright red as he waved his arms wildly in front of him trying to deny being there simply to ogle the players.

“Calm down, I was joking. Besides, I’d say you’re the one getting stared at.” _Oh good, I said that out loud._

“Huh?”

“You.” Jean pointed at Eren and glared at him for a moment before pointing his finger right at Eren’s chest. He pushed at him, enunciating his words. “You. Are. Fucking. Hot. And it’s driving me nuts because _apparently_ I’ve had a crush on you since middle school and I didn’t even realize it until yesterday somehow.”

Eren was staring at him, stock still and completely dumbfounded. They both stood there suspended for a moment as Jean glared at Eren and Eren stared at Jean in shock.

“You… like me?”

“That’s what I just said, didn’t I?”

“I mean yeah, but…”

“So let’s just forget that I said that and I’m totally fine just staying friends because I –mmph!” Eren had grabbed Jean’s shirt and pulled him forwards so that their mouths literally crashed into each other. It was an awkward kiss and Jean moved back out of shock more than anything else. He brought his fingers to his lip and brushed them, pulling them away he could see a faint smear of blood. “Ouch.”

“Sorry! I just kinda… you said you liked me and I’ve wanted to kiss you since the end of sophomore year.”

“The end of sophomore year?” Jean knew his voice sounded a little weak but his mind was still catching up with what was going on. “That was when you told me you were bi, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, I was kinda actually trying to tell you that I liked you but I chickened out right at the last minute.” Eren gave him a sheepish smile. “I’m a little pissed that it took me getting new glasses and having my braces taken off for you to realize that you liked me though.”

“Sorry about that. I never claimed to not be shallow. I do really like you though, it just never occurred to me to think of you romantically. Or at least not consciously. Marco thinks I’ve had a crush on you since middle school.”

“Wait, what?” Eren was looking confusedly at him. “We fought constantly! We were –”

“I’m inclined to agree with him actually. It all hit me Friday night. Half the photos I’ve ever taken are either the two of us or just you. I tried to think of why I was so bummed out that you couldn’t meet me at the pond on Tuesday and all I could come up with it that I really fucking like you and I really wanted to kiss you.”

“I thought you said you weren’t at the pond yet.”

“I lied. I’d been there waiting for fifteen minutes before you called.”

“You’re such a dumbass.”

“Pretty much. Look, you kiss like shit so I suggest that we go back to my place so that I can shower and then I can teach you how to properly kiss someone so that they don’t end up with a bloody lip. Sound good?”

“Yeah, that sounds pretty good.”

“That sweater is ugly as sin though, you’re going to have to take that eyesore off once we get to my house.”

“I don’t have anything on underneath.”

“Even better.”

 


End file.
